The US Navy has awarded Ursa Major two contracts worth a combined $137m to develop and qualify solid rocket motors for the Compact Air-to-Air Missile (CAAM) and Naval Modular Missile (NMM) programmes.
Funded through the Office of the Under Secretary of War (OUSW), the awards cover motors for the CAAM, an air-launched missile programme, and the medium-range variant of the NMM.
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Ursa Major will use its Lynx manufacturing approach for both efforts, which incorporates additive manufacturing techniques and is intended to increase energetics production capacity.
Under the $91m CAAM contract, Ursa Major is developing a 7in solid rocket motor using Highly Loaded Grain propellant.
The motor is intended to meet performance requirements within a limited volume while reducing unit costs, according to Ursa Major. The design is being developed using the manufacturing methods planned for full-rate production.
The $46mNMM work covers a 10in solid rocket motor for the missile’s medium-range variant. Ursa Major said the motor is intended to be compatible with existing Navy shipboard launch systems and to meet US Navy performance and safety requirements while supporting high annual output.
Ursa Major Solid Missile Systems president Jason Meredith said: “By investing in CAAM and NMM, the Navy and OUSW are building solid rocket motor capacity now and getting new tactical air and naval capabilities into development sooner.
“Our Lynx manufacturing approach and growing energetics capacity enable us to design, build, test, qualify and field these motors faster to support the warfighter. Production is the bottleneck in missile programs right now, and that’s the part we’ve been building for.”
The awards extend Ursa Major’s existing solid rocket motor work for the Navy. In July, the service awarded the company $10m to take its MK 104 motor design through critical design review and static-fire testing in support of the Standard Missile family.
In February, Ursa Major completed a $25m cost-share Solid Rocket Motor Manufacturing Pathfinder Programme with the Navy and the Office of Strategic Capital.
The work included designing, building, and static-firing a 10in Highly Loaded Grain motor, as well as developing a propellant for it.
